aurora borealis 

you said that that
northern lights are 
better in photographs 

that in a picture 
they can capture all the
fractures & ribbons 
of light

i've always wanted
to see them

i feel like that's what
you're supposed to say 

you're supposed
to have always dreamed
in green & pinks hues
meandering through
navy blue sky

is that the foot print
of angles?

god's exit wounds?

the memory 
of blood evaporated--
entering orbit

when we sat on the rocky
beach in maine 
you told me that sometimes
they come down that far-- 

that sometimes
you can see them on
the right clear sky evening

& we leaned on each other's
shoulders

boulder on boulder

the sky's birth marks

never showed themselves
so you burst the blood vessels
on my neck to show
me what aurora borealis 
is supposed to look like

like scars turned supernatural

like the memory of
fish through water

backstroke across the moon

i guess i've never
seen them

do photographs count?

what else is better
in photographs?

most recollections 
are best when secured
in picture frames 

where they can't get away

i'm watching 
me & you turn into 
watercolor hemorrhages

into green-purple blush

into celestial stretch marks

into a streamer

ribbons tying back the ghost
of our long brown hairs

tuck me behind your ear
like a daffodil 

travel farther north
in your silver toyota

the one we where
we kissed in the back seat
in your uncle's parking lot

drive all night 
till you cross
the boarder into 
Canada 

till there's nothing but
forest & asphalt road

is this my leg hair
or the back of
your knuckles?

get out & 
search for them

take thousands of
pictures even if the sky
seems tired & 
wanting to be left alone

you took 
a picture of me
naked at the foot of 
the bed
on that night after
we tired to pry 
colors from above
the black ocean water

i wonder if you still have it

i wonder if there's 
northern lights written
into my body

am i better now
in a photograph?